Women's Rowing Places Five Boats in the Top-Four at the Eastern Sprints

Mids place fourth in the overall team standings.

The Mids had an excellent showing on Sunday.

May 5, 2013

CHERRY HILL, N.J. -
The Navy women's rowing team placed five of its boats in the top-four at the Eastern Sprints on Sunday and took fourth place in the overall standings. All six Navy crews competed in their respective grand final races on the Cooper River as the Mids posted their most successful showing at the Eastern Sprints in program history.

"It was a great day for the program," said Navy head coach Mike Hughes. "We're really proud, but now we know that we have two weeks until the Patriot League Championships to get faster. We want to get at least a boat-length faster heading into the league championships."

The varsity eight crew took second in its heat to move to the six-boat grand final race. Columbia (7:03) and Brown took the top two spots (7:07) in the final, but Boston University (7:14) and Navy (7:17) followed closely behind in third and fourth place, respectively. The Mids overtook Northeastern in the final few hundred meters to take fourth place. Northeastern (7:18) finished fifth, less than a half of a boat-length behind Navy.

The second varsity crew also took fourth and had a final race similar to that of the Mids' first varsity. Brown (7:22), Columbia (7:35) and Boston (7:43) took the top-three spots and the Mids (7:53) placed fourth. Like the varsity grand final, Navy's second varsity also overtook Northeastern (7:57) in the final 250 meters to take fourth place.

"We have a really good sprint and really good starts, but need to work on our middle of the race," said Hughes.

The Mids' novice eight boat posted the highest finish of the day of any Navy crew, winning the gold medal in the grand final. Navy finished with open water between second-place Boston College, 8:00.8-8:05.8

Of the three varsity four grand finals, it was the Navy `C' boat that had the best finish, taking second place. The Mids' `C' boat turned in a 9:00 to take second place behind Brown.

In the varsity four `A' grand final, the Mids placed sixth with a time of 8:50. Brown outdueled Columbia by five seconds to win the race with a time of 8:02.

Navy's `B' crew posted the best time of any of its varsity four boats, taking third place with an 8:38. Brown and Columbia also took the top-two spots in the `B' race.

Navy will now continue to train for the Patriot League Championships, which takes place May 17 in Worcester, Mass.